Celebrate The Periwinkle Sheep x fibre space

It’s been a decade of collaboration with the amazing hand dyer the Periwinkle Sheep! Come join us as we celebrate one of our favs with an exciting pop up shop of yarns and samples to inspire. Karin Maag-Tanchak has been one of our favorite dyers for years, and from her studio in Albany, New York she has been bringing us her beautiful Watercolors, Wolke, Sport Wolle, Merino DK, Merino Flax and Fine Merino Boucle.

We’ll be hosting Periwinkle Sheep this week, so stop by to enjoy an expansive collection of yarns in all the colors we love.

From Karin of the Periwinkle Sheep

I was born in Northern Bavaria, Germany in 1963 and came to the US for the first time as an exchange
student in 1983; after 10 years back and forth between the two countries, my husband and I settled in
Albany, NY.
I learned how to knit, crochet, hand sew, and embroider in elementary school. Knitting is what stuck! I
come from a long line of hand crafters. My great-grandmother was a village shepherdess. My maternal
grandmother was a prolific knitter, rug hooker, and crocheter. I still have a complete wardrobe for my
Barbie doll that she made. My mother used to sew our clothes, and knit sweaters by self-drafting her
patterns. Besides knitting, I dabble in spinning as well, and am getting ready to learn how to weave on a
rigid heddle loom this summer.
A proud knitter since age 8, I was knitting all through school, college, and post-graduate studies. I have
taught German and English classes to adult learners in Germany; earned a Master’s Degree in English
with a concentration on feminist critical theory from the University at Albany (NY); worked at a small
local theatre, an indie movie theatre, a local food co-op, raised two children, owned a yarn shop – and
finally became a hand dyer of fine yarns in 2007.
As a hand dyer I’ve always had one goal: to help you make your work look the best it can, with vibrant,
deep colorways and yarns with great stitch definition. Periwinkle Sheep yarns jump onto your needles
and hooks and are a pleasure to work with.
I’ve used many dye techniques over the years, including layering of colors, speckling, variegation – and
have always developed more and more semisolid colorways. Fibre Space has carried 64 of them!
What you see here at The Fibre Space Trunk Show is a celebration of 10 years of working with Danielle
and her team. I could not be more excited to be given a chance to showcase Periwinkle Sheep yarns in
this beloved, amazing, gorgeous yarn shop. We are showing a curated selection of 25 colorways in 6
bases!
Thank you so much for being here, and thank you to Danielle for taking a chance with me a decade ago. I
could not have done any of this without her. Danielle’s business acumen and leadership in the Local
Yarn Shop world is second to none.
I hope you have as much fun working with these yarns as I enjoyed dyeing them for you! Please do not
hesitate be in touch on Instagram @periwinklesheep.

-Karin Maag-Tanchak

We are so delighted by all of the beautiful garments that are here to inspire. Come visit this Periwinkle capsule collection and see why we love this yarn so much.